A Not So Typical 90's American High School Love Story
by Nikomedes
Summary: The joys of high school. The cliques, the cliches and the drama. Oh, and Prom. Don't forget about Prom. Rated T for swearing. Mitsu and background AzuYui. AU set in America.
1. Pretty Fly For A White Guy

**A Not So Typical 90's American High School Love Story**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own K-on! or any of it's characters. I do own the plot though.

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**Track 1: Pretty Fly For A White Guy**

New school? Same old shit. That was my motto. As you can probably tell, I'm not one for the entire caring about my academics crap. Don't get me wrong though, I do well enough not to fail, just not good enough to kick it with the nerds - much to my parent's disappointment. But, I digress.

My name's Ritsu Tainaka and you can say I'm kind of all that and a bag of chips around the high school scene: star member of the track team, drummer of a successful underground grunge band, attractive and friendly, not to mention quite the Casanova. Yeah, I pretty much have it made for my high school days.

Well, at least I did before I transferred into good ol' Sakuragaoka High School. The school was literally in the middle of nowhere. Okay no, I have to give credit where credit was due. The school was in a quaint, but boring suburban town where the most exciting thing to do is go to the movie theater. How wonderful. Excuse my lack of excitement; it's just really hard to get pumped up when you've recently moved from the Big Apple to a peewee sized hole in the ground.

I really got to thank my Mom and Pops for deciding to slow down and relocating to … Evie, Eva, I don't even know, some town in Illinois. I can still remember the sound of my jaw hitting the floor when they told me we were moving. Pops was a pretty important businessman, while Mom was a free spirited hippie. Unusual match? I thought so too. Apparently, the two met during my Pops' wild phase at Woodstock and something about The Who being magical? I tuned out halfway through their story. Anyways, a new branch from my Pops' company was opening up in Chicago and he was graced with the opportunity to manage it, given that he moves, of course. One thing led to another and soon enough we were on our way to Evan, Everson, Ev- something, Illinois. Initially, we were to move straight into the heart of the operation. But, due to dear Mommy's threat that if we were to move into another polluted, environment-killing city, she would personally start the next strike in an effort to wage war on behalf of the wildlife, we ended up in a suburb about thirty minutes away from the city.

The only saving grace to this entire ordeal was the fact that Pops had bought me a sweet secondhand yellow 1992 Acura NSX as an apology of sorts. Only downside to that was that it was currently in the shop getting repaired, never trust the Internet for your automotive needs, which is why I'm currently riding my beat up red bicycle, that I haven't used since I was in junior high, to school. Can you say brutal? Hopefully, no one would notice me riding this thing.

I slowed down as I approached the bike racks. Good, almost there. I got off the metal thing as I bent down to lace my lock around the loop and-

**CRASH.**

"What the hell?" I spun around just in time to see my bike impacting the bumper of a red 1988 IROC Camaro. Oh, someone is gunna get hella jacked up! Especially since my bike was now two meters away from where I originally placed it. The two doors of the car simultaneously opened as the passengers stepped out.

"Giddy Up." I gawked. What I expected to come out of the car was a couple teenage jocks with egos the size of the state, not a 5"2 long haired beauty. Damn, that girl was fine. I couldn't help but check her out: face of a movie star, long legs, silky black hair, and those eyes, those cool grey eyes. Oh, I feel a nosebleed coming on.

"Tainaka, what the hell are you doing here?!" Shit. There was only one person in the world with a voice as annoying as that. It was like a mix of a preadolescent boy going through puberty and Ren from The Ren and Stimpy Show. I cringed as my gaze hesitantly left the beauty to glare at the driver of the vehicle from hell. Shit. Shit. Shit. Of all the damn schools to transfer into, of course, I get transferred into his.

"Long time no see, Suzuki."

"Yeah, last time we met, I was coming to jack you up for messing around with my sister."

"She came on to me!" I snarled. Atsushi Suzuki. The dumbass was the bane of my existence. Him and his sister, Jun, used to go to my old school, where I was suckered into teaching the girl music theory. She was a nice girl, rather rambunctious like myself, but quite genuine. That didn't mean she didn't go after what she wanted though. She spent half the time hitting on me and the other half trying to touch my arms. Although, I am quite the charmer, I wasn't any hooch. I put up with the sexual harassment until one day the girl decided to lock the two of us in a secluded classroom and make her move. In my crazed panic, I managed to shatter a window with a spare drumstick from my bag and jumped out of it.

Luckily for me, we were on the first floor so I was able to escape unharmed and pretty quickly. Unluckily for Jun, she was caught by the principal and refused to explain what really happened out of embarrassment. Trust me, I wouldn't wanna explain to anyone why someone would jump out of a window rather than getting down with me either. Since that day she would avoid me, but her brother would go out of his way to provoke me. Nothing ever happen though, as their family decided to move out of town a week after the incident.

"I didn't touch her either."

"That doesn't mean you should jump out of a window." His eyes narrowed as he hissed the last part of his sentence. I thanked whatever deity was out there. At least, Jun had the decency not to make up any bizarre story of what happened between her and I.

"That wasn't my faul-"

"Save it, Tainaka! You may have been the most popular kid at our old school, but you're in my territory now and I'm the King of the jungle here." He smirked before extending one of his arms out. "Come on chicka, let's go." The gorgeous girl, who was idly leaning on the car, gave me a small smile before joining what I could guess to be her boyfriend's side. To say I was shocked was an understatement. How could a douchebag like that, get such a beautiful girl like her. Life isn't fair sometimes.

"Damn." I swore as I picked up what was left over of my bike. That was not how I wanted my first impressions to go. I scowled as I took note of the dissipating crowd that had gathered for the show. Hopefully, this little incident wouldn't spread around. But then again, this is high school.

Just my luck.

By second period, I figured out that Suzuki really was the top dog around these parts. Back at home he was only the second string quarterback for the football team but, from what I could guess to be due to the lack of talent, over here he was the actual quarterback. That coupled with the fact that he was dating Mio Akiyama, the school's head cheerleader, solidified his position as 'the king of the jungle' as he so lamely put. The only bright side to this was that I found out the name of that stunning raven-haired beauty. Mio Akiyama. Suitable: a pretty name for a pretty girl. If she were single I would totally be all up on that. So what if we're both the same gender? It's the turn of the 20th century. People can like whomever they like and if some people can't handle it, then we're just gunna start a revolution. Like Mom says. Okay not quite, but if they got a problem with it, then, they can just deal with it.

"Ritsu!" I quickly looked up at my Bio teacher. She had light brown hair groomed into a messy bob. She actually looked pretty young to be a teacher, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was scary as hell, she could've been mistaken for a mature senior student. With any luck though, she wouldn't have noticed that I wasn't paying attention.

"Yes, Miss Kawaguchi?"

"Can you please explain to me why do neutral fats not dissolve in water?"

"Cause water's always running?" I joked, causing a few snickers to erupt from my classmates.

"Pay attention next time!" She warned me with a disapproving sigh, before continuing to write the note on the chalkboard. Talk about buzz kill. I glanced around the science room. It was pretty well stocked. There were counters around the border of the room, each with a sink at the end of it as well as cupboards that contained what I would imagine to be a plethora of science stuff. Us, students, were aligned in rows in the center of the room so we could get a clear view of the chalkboard. Not that I was going to look at it anyways. I peered to the student on my left. She had wavy long brown hair tied into pigtails and pushed to the front, over her shoulders. Kinda cute, if I do say so myself.

"Hey, I'm Ritsu Tainaka." I whispered to her as I held out my hand, waiting for her to shake it. The girl only stared at me nervously before quickly grabbing it and letting go. What's up with her? I kept staring at her when she made no attempt to introduce herself. She sighed when she realized I wasn't going to stop bugging her and turned to face me.

"Look, I can't be associated with people with reputations like yours." She whispered back. Reputations like mine? What the hell is she talking about? This b needs to chill out, for real. I don't even have rep… yet.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Aren't you the girl who got on Atsushi's bad side this morning?"

"Well, yeah. I don't get what that has to do with anything?"

"If Atsushi doesn't like you that means the entire football team doesn't like you, meaning that you are a liability to whoever hangs around you. So please, let me go back to learning about cells." She faced herself forwards again, successfully ending this unpleasant conversation and ruining my mood. If that's how that mofo wants to play, then bring it on. Bring. It. On.

* * *

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid this school doesn't have a track team."

"What? How can you not have a track team?" I gaped in shock at the school receptionist. Right after Bio class, I decided to sign myself up for the extracurricular, in order to show off my athletic skills as well as make some new friends that could back me up in case of an emergency. It was phase one of my 'bring it on' plan to knock Suzuki off his high horse. But now, this gray bun haired old grandma, who was wearing a lavender lady suit and a little bit too much perfume, was telling me that phase one of my plans doesn't exist. Okay, she really had to get some new glasses because obviously she wasn't reading the computer screen right.

"Due to budget cuts and the lack of members joining the team this year, we had to cut it. Sorry. You can try joining again next year." She tried to sympathize with me; too bad her voice was void of any sympathy.

"I can't join next year, I'm a senior!" I groaned in frustration. Perfect. Just perfect. This is what happens when your family decides to move right in the middle of the school year. Great. How am I supposed to get rep now?

"You can join another club if you want?"

"No, it's okay." I sulked as I stormed out of the office. It seems like my 'bring it on' plan was turning into a 'bring it off' plan. Damn that Suzuki. Damn him, damn this school, damn this town, dam-

"Oof." I felt something soft hit my front before landing on my butt. This is just what I needed, a run in intrusion with another student who doesn't want to be seen with me. Great.

"I'm sorry." I said unenthusiastically, still down from the lack of things going right in the world. Seriously, where's the justice in my situation? But, if there's one thing people say about me, it's that I'm not a dick. I went on my knees to help pick up the stranger's fallen belongings. What I expected to pick up was books, papers, and even some stationary. Not a pair of white and pink cat ears.

"Is this yours?" I held out the object to the person, only to find a quite attractive baby faced blonde girl with electric blue eyes. Giddy up. Didn't I say I was a Casanova? Yeah, let me prove it to you.

"Hi, my name's Ritsu Tainaka and you are?" I spoke in a husky voice as I held my hand out once more, plastering a friendly smile on my face. Charming, be charming damn it.

"Mugi Kotobuki." She reached out and shook it. Glad to know there are some students in this school who don't give a rat's ass about the football team and reputation.

"Mugi, what a beautiful name. You can't find too many people with a name like that." I shot her one of my trademarked grins; the one the girls back home would call the lady-killer smile. True to its name, the blonde started to blush a little prior to both of us getting back up.

"It's actually short for Tsumugi." She spoke as she placed the cat ears back on top of her head. Weird. It's not everyday that people dress up as a feline. But, there could be a good explanation for it… I just can't think of one at the moment.

"So what's up with the cat ears?" I asked pointing at the fake things. Instantly the girl tensed up, maybe I shouldn't have asked? Seeing as the girl now refused to look me in the eyes and slumped her shoulders. Touchy subject, I guess.

"Have you ever heard of anime?"

"The Japanese cartoons? Yeah, my cousin's into it. He even got me hooked on the comic books." I chuckled when she immediately brightened up from her prior tense mood. She looked as if I just gave her the key to Disneyland with the way her eyes sparkled. Charmer? Yeah, that was I.

"You're the first person I've met who actually knew what I was talking about!" She grabbed both my hands and held them up. I grinned awkwardly. Who cares if she was a little weird, it sure didn't make her any less attractive and certainly if I were my mother's daughter, I wouldn't judge a book by it's cover or rather by it's unusual quirks.

"You're into that sort of thing?"

"I'm like obsessed with it! That's why I'm wearing the ears, it's a tribute to Kemonomimi."

"Oh." _What the hell is Kemonomimi?_

"I-is that a problem?" She quickly let go of my hands and shrunk back. It was if she was expecting me to make fun of her or something. Poor girl. Poor pretty girl.

"No way, to each their own, I say!" I shot her another smirk. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your next class?"

"I got English next, but right now it's lunch break."

"Mind if I join you for an exquisite meal?" I asked leaning on the nearby wall, trying to be cool. _As cool as ice. Ice cold, baby_. Mugi just quirked an eyebrow at me before giving me a once over.

"Like what you see?" I winked and she slapped my arm playfully. Aw yeah. Playful hitting in high school totally means she's a little bit interested.

"Go right ahead." She beamed up at me and I couldn't help but melt. _What a cutie_. "I hope you don't mind eating with my friend though."

"Nah, the more the merrier." Finally, people to chill with. Maybe things are looking up again? I got off the wall as we began to make our way through the hallways.

"I'll warn you, we aren't the most popular bunch."

"No worries, as my Mom always says 'never pay too much attention to labels'." I mimicked in a voice that did not sound one bit like my Mom's. Besides, eating lunch with a weird but pretty girl was way better than eating lunch by yourself.

"She sounds like a cool person."

"She's kind of a hippie."

"Psychedelic." I laughed, attractive and funny. Yeah, this girl is definitely my type.

"So what brings you to Evanston, Illinois?" She asked, making small talk.

"My dad's company is opening up a branch in Chicago, we moved here in order to avoid the hustle and bustle of the city."

"Are you talking about KTBK Industries?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"KTBK stands for Kotobuki. My father owns the company." I stopped dead in my tracks. Holy shit. She was the daughter of the owner of the company that my Pops worked at. Charm off, turning the charm off. Turning it way off. Not that dating a rich pretty girl was a bad thing, it's just dating the daughter of the man who gives your family income was not something that I was into. Way too risky. She turned around when she noticed I stopped moving.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I laugh nervously as we proceeded to walk again. "Ha, ha, ha… What brings a girl like you to these parts?" I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"I grew up here." She grinned. "This was my father's hometown. I guess he wanted me to experience the same childhood he had while growing up. I actually quite like it here. It's quaint."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ever the gentlemen, I held out the door for her as we neared the cafeteria. It was a nice open-air cafe, but the way the students were segregated looked like something that came straight out of every cliché high school movie drama. The popular people sat by the fountain, the geeks sat by the wall, and then you got your art's freaks, nerds, rejects and every other possible stereotypical high school social group. I wonder which one a girl like Mugi belonged too?

"Mugi, over here!" A brunette waved enthusiastically at us from a table at the corner of the courtyard. It looked as if she wanted to come and greet us, but failed miserably as she fell backwards over the bench and onto the ground. Ouch, that's gotta' hurt. We immediately rushed towards her.

"Hey, you okay?" I held out my hand for her to grab, which she eagerly accepted. The girl spoke as I hoisted her up.

"Huh, I've never seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"Yui, meet Ricchan. Ricchan, meet Yui." Mugi introduced us. I turned to her. Ricchan, huh? First day here and I've already gotten a nickname. Sweet. "I hope you don't mind the moniker." She smiled. Resist temptation. Resist it!

"Nah, it's actually pretty sweet."

"Just like chocolate."

"What?"

"Chocolate's pretty sweet too." I stared at Yui. She was a bit… odd. I guess like minds stick together?

"Don't mind Yui, she can be like that sometimes." Mugi gently steered me to my seat.

"Hey, what do you mean?" The brunette quirked one of her eyebrows up as she crossed her arms. "And after all the trouble I went to, to save you these seats. I can really feel the love here."

"Fine, fine. Here." Mugi pulled out a chocolate dipped doughnut and gave it to her. "I packed this especially for you." I nearly laughed at the expression Yui was making. It was a cross between a puppy getting a treat and a child opening presents on Christmas day.

"I love you." She spoke, pulling Mugi into a hug. "Oh, Ricchan, do you want some?" She offered me the doughnut.

"Well, they are my favourite…"

"Yours too!" Yui grinned. Weird? Possibly. Likable? Definitely. I grinned back at her as I accepted one third of the doughnut, the other third went back to Mugi.

"And with this doughnut I christen thee the beginnings of a wonderful friendship!" We all laughed at Yui's nonsense ramblings. Yeah, I can get used to this. Maybe this school wasn't so bad, heck; maybe this town wasn't too bad eithe-

"Aw, how cute. Looks like Tainaka made some friends." I spoke too soon. I scowled as I looked around to find Suzuki and his posse crowding around the table. "Too bad they're a bunch of losers!" He jeered and I could see Yui and Mugi shrinking in their seats. Oh, now I'm getting hella pissed. He's gunna get it.

"Step off, Suzuki." I stood up, getting into his personal space. He was a good few inches taller than me and bigger too. But, do I give a damn. Ha, no. Instantaneously, I could feel the cafeteria atmosphere tense up. Seems like King douchebag never got stood up to before.

"And what if I don't." He glared back at me as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Then, I'll ma-" I paused as I felt a tiny tug from the back of my shirt. I quickly glanced back to see Mugi silently pleading for me to stop. What can I say; she's a lover not a fighter.

"Oh, what do we have here?" He smirked and I glowered back at him. "You dumped my sister for cat freak? Seriously? You got some messed up fetishes." He laughed. How can someone be such a … _dick?_ Honestly, if it weren't for Mugi still holding my shirt, I would've greeted this scrub with my fist.

"Leave her out of this." I growled, shielding Mugi and Yui from his view. "Damn right, I rather date her than your sister. In fact, your sister's so fugly, I would've dated my shoe over her." That was a lie. She was rather cute, but that's beside the point. The point was to piss him off and it looks like I've hit the nail on the head as he immediately stopped laughing and clutched the scruff of my shirt.

"What'd you say?" His eyes narrowed into slits. I could tell this was gunna hurt, but man, was it worth it.

"Your. Sister. Is. Fugly."

"Huh?"

"What are you slow or something? I said your sister is OOG-LAY." I smirked. I think I made my point loud and clear.

"That's it." Suzuki lifted me higher up as he reeled his fist back. I closed my eyes in preparation for an onslaught of pain, yet it never came. I opened them once more; at least, I think I did as my vision was still filled with black. Did he punch me so badly that I instantly died? I blinked once, twice, before realizing that I was staring at black hair.

"Knock it off, Atsushi!" The black-haired girl scolded. Somehow, she had managed to wedge herself in between Suzuki and I. I gotta hand it to her, she was fearless. I for one wouldn't have stepped into the middle of a fight, that is, unless I had a reason too.

"Move aside, Mio." His threatening gaze never faltered from mine.

"No. You're always like this! I swear to God, if you don't drop it, we're done."

"Chicka…" He whined. Yeah. He _whined_. Talk about whipped, ball and chained. I'm pretty impressed actually. It was clear that this Mio girl wore the pants in the relationship.

"I'm serious."

"Fine." I felt the pressure from my collar disappear as my feet planted firmly on the ground. _Thank you, Mio._ The girl merely grumbled before stomping off somewhere.

"This isn't over, Tainaka!" Suzuki threatened, before running after his girlfriend. Without the aide of their leader, the rest of his posse stood around for a couple of seconds like headless chickens, but soon left as they realized that nothing was going to come out of it. With the instigators gone and nothing more to see, the atmosphere eventually returned to normal.

"Ricchan, I can't believe you did that!" Yui shouted, her eyes sparkling in admiration.

"No one disses, my dwags." I patted her on the head. "Sorry, I kept going Mugi." I apologized, remembering her small attempts to stop me.

"It's okay." She shrugged. "I have to admit, you were cool. Even though fighting is never the answer. I'm kind of glad you stood up for us." I grinned like I just won the lottery.

"And I would do it again."

"You're just lucky Mio was there to save you." Yui giggled as I shot her a glare. Ingrate. I almost got my ass kicked for you. Joking, of course. I soon came to realize that one could never really be angry with Yui. It's just something about her. I'm thinking it's the slightly spastic qualities.

"Does she usually do that?" I inquired, now looking at the girl in question having a heated, but whispered debate with my arch nemesis. They were in a remote corner of the courtyard behind a pillar, which would've hid them from the rest of the school but not our table. "Save people I mean?"

"Not really." Mugi responded, now thoughtfully chewing on her third of the doughnut. "That was actually rare. She usually just let's Atsushi do whatever he likes."

"Trouble in paradise maybe?" Yui suggested, following my line of sight and staring at the couple too.

"Possibly."

"Whatever it is, I'm just glad she helped." I chuckled, stuffing my third of the pastry in my mouth in one go. Mio Akiyama: head cheerleader, school hottie and saver of new kids. Not quite breaking the stereotypes, but not quite following them either. Quite the strange girl if I do say so myself. Then again, there's nothing wrong with being a little strange.

Actually, it was kind of hot. The saving me part, not her being strange. Well, maybe if I were into that sort of thing. Yeah, it was hot.

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**AN:** Are you guys interested in reading a fic like this? I dunno. But it was fun to write and my drive to write this actually amazes me. I originally wrote this as a one shot, but I had way too many ideas floating around that I wanted to put into the fic. One thing led to another and I found that I had a really long one shot, so I decided to break it down, make an outline and make this a multichaptered fic. I know that on my profile it says that I'm almost done chapter 3 of this story, which is true. But, given my past experiences with multichaptered stories, I'm going to hold off uploading them in one go and upload them between time intervals.

So the story is set in a late American 1990's AU High School. I used a bit of 90's slang since Ritsu doesn't seem like the type to speak properly. If anyones confused with any of the slang, there's usually a definition on Google. Oh and in this story, Ritsu is an only child so I made Satoshi her cousin. It doesn't really matter anyways cause this is the only chapter to mention him. Just a fun tidbit to share. Atsushi is actually from the mangaverse of K-On! and I've never read the manga, but I would guess that he doesn't actually act like this. That being said, all characters in this story are from either the manga or the anime version of K-On! So the rude girl in Bio class is Ichigo Wakaouji, the secretary is the old lady that accompanied Sawako to the Kyoto trip and the Bio teacher, well, let's see if you guys can guess. XD


	2. Loser

**A Not So Typical 90's American High School Love Story**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own K-On! and the quote down there belongs to Jimi Hendrix.

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**Track 2: Loser**

"Seems like you're settling down here pretty well."

"I guess." I shrugged at my Pops while crinkling my nose at the aromas assaulting my sense of smell. It was dinnertime, which meant that the average American family was enjoying a nice meal of mash potatoes, chicken/meat and some sort of vegetable. Key word here is average. My family was anything but average as evident by the arrangement of interesting foods set on the table: imitation tofu steak, lemonade and mixed wild and brown rice. Yum. That was sarcasm by the way. Imitation anything was never as good as the real thing. I shuddered in horror when Mom placed the Pièce De Résistance to this evening's dinner on the centre of the table: Cabbage hemp salad.

Ew.

At times like these I wished I had a normal mother and not some unconventional, hemp loving free spirit. It's not that I didn't like her alternative ways; it was just that I wanted some normal food so I can have some normal bowel movements. I'm sure my toilet would agree. Yeah, having a vegetarian mother meant healthy eating, but at this moment all I wanted was a big juicy burger from the fast food joint down the road. Not good for the animals and not good for my health. Yum. And that was not sarcasm by the way.

"Did you find anyone you're interested in?" Mom asked, taking her usual spot at the table, across from me and next to Pops. No one sat at the two ends of the dinner table since Mom said that people who sit there have power issues and wanted to place their authority over the household. It was her subtle jab at those who insisted that they were the 'man' of the house. She wasn't quite a feminist per se but she believed that everyone should enforce equality at all times. Including dinnertime.

"Mom!" I whined. Speaking of dinnertime, this was not appropriate dinner conversation. Appropriate dinner conversation consisted of:

"How was school?"

"Good."

"How was work?"

And cue in the long rant about something someone was doing wrong at their job, thus making the entire work team suffer. Effectively, allowing the offspring, such as myself, to daydream about certain raven-haired beauties and the providers, such as my parents, to engage in a long discussion about work ethics. That was what a typical dinner was supposed to sound like. Such things never happen in my household.

"Oh, come on Moon Sugar! There must be some cuties! New school, new pool of slammin' fishies to flirt with." I cringed. My Mother did not just make an analogy comparing my fellow female students to fishes. That was just wrong. People like Mio Akiyama should never be compared to… scaly aquatic animals.

"Moooom! Stop calling me that." I pouted opting to try and change the subject. My love life should never be a topic of conversation with my parents. Ever. My tawny-haired Mama merely gave me an entertained grinned.

"Why? You're my Moon Sugar! As pale as the Moon and as sweet as a sugarcane." She swooned, clasping her hands together and bringing them up to rest on her cheek. _You got to be kiddin' me._ In all honesty, I wasn't even that pale, the amount of running in the sun and physical activity outdoors was enough to ensure that my skin stayed a healthy tone. Not to mention the amount of teasing and sass I gave to people definitely did not categorize me as a sweetheart. I immediately placed a stony look on my face as I gave her a level glare. When she saw my reaction, or rather lack thereof, she stopped her teasing. "Fine, but only if you stop calling me Mom."

"Then, what am I supposed to call you?"

"Sosi."

"I can't call you by your name. That's hella weird." I looked to the more conservative half of the couple, hoping for a little support. Nope, Pops' just smiled at me while picking up some of his hemp salad. He was tickled pink at the situation.

"I'm not getting into this, Kiddo."

"Pops." I glared at him, only for him to chuckle and continue eating the strange sustenance on his plate.

"You're beating a dead horse here. Besides, at least I'm not insisting for you to call me Zeiya." This guy really was my Mom's other half. Seriously. He may not look like it, but he sure was. Pops was a clean-cut, dark shorthaired business executive who sported a briefcase, tie and suit on most days. Appearance wise, he was the complete opposite of my Mom, who preferred to keep her naturally straight hair long, free and untamed and her clothes colourful, loose and animal friendly. Personality wise, they were two peas in a pod: goofy, unorthodox and happy go lucky. Although Pops was really serious when it came to work and money, when it came down to the more important things to life, like family and music, he was as chill as a cucumber on a winter's day. Just like Momma. The capitalist world of money obviously did not dampen his carefree attitude. Conservative? My ass.

"So?" I glanced back at my Mom as she piled a hardy helping of the green stuff on my plate. Gross. I hope I don't get high from this.

"So what?"

"Any slammin' fishes?"

"N-no!" I spluttered, my cheeks growing a pink tinge to them. At this, both my parental units gave each other a knowing look.

"Really? Cause I've seen you hanging around with this cute blonde girl."

"Oh, who's the lucky lady?" Pop's instantly perked up. He loved hearing about my love life. I have no idea why though. It was a bit weird to be honest. Mom said it was just his way of trying to remember his youthful days through me. Whatever it was, it was still creepy.

"She's just a friend."

"But you do like someone, right?" They had shrewd smiles on their faces. I swear I've got to stop having this friendship-type relationship with my parents and start having a more parental-type relationship with them. That way I can live my life in wonderful teenage secrecy without them reading my mind. They know me far too well by now. I sighed. No use in lying when I've been caught red handed.

"Yeah, yeah. Her name is Mio." Before my parents could say anything more like 'You should invite her over sometime!', because I know they would, I quickly added. "She's beautiful and completely taken and does not swing that way."

"Aw, Moon Sugar." Mom patted my hair in a comforting gesture.

"Whatcha gunna do?" I shrugged. " When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade." I swirled around my glass of the sour liquid as emphasis before taking a long sip from it. The lemonade was pretty much the only thing I liked about this dinner.

"That's right, Kiddo!" Pops exclaimed, leaning over the table. A mischievous look adorned his features, which could of easily mirrored one of mine. "You make the best darn lemonade you can. Now, how are you planning to steal that girl away?"

"Pops!"

"Moonshine…"

Mom and I spoke in unison. The only difference being that she was frowning disapprovingly while I was so shocked that I was coughing up my so-called 'emphasis'.

"What?" He chuckled, causing sparkles to dance around his amber eyes. People always told me that I was a mix between the couple in front of me. Physically, I inherited my golden locks from my Mom and my dazzling eyes from my Pops. I was just fortunate enough to get my Mom's looks too, not that my Pops was ugly or anything, but what girl wants to look like their Dad? What I did inherit from him though was probably his wonderful personality. Momma often said that I was a 'mini-Zeiya' with the way we both seem to attract mischief and had a knack for teasing people in the most inconvenient of times. "I'm just saying that if she isn't in a happy relationship, then maybe, you could help her out a bit."

"Moon Sugar, don't listen to your Father, the salad's affecting his brain." Mom spoke sternly, which could only mean one of two possible things: one, Pops was in trouble, or two, I was in trouble, and with the way Mom addressed him as Father, I'm going to take an educated guess and say the first one is true.

"Buttercup, you know I was just joking, right?" He tried to back peddle as he probably realized the same thing I did a few seconds ago. "Of course, I would never condone meddling into someone's relationship."

"Mmhmm." She hummed. Not a good sign. If Pops doesn't play his cards right, he could be getting the couch tonight.

"Though, if you do, and I'm not saying that you should, I have a plan that would surely work." He winked at me and I face-palmed. Wrong move. I know I'm not the smartest person out there, but I know when to stop joking around. _Well, most of the time_. And Pops should've stopped about a sentence ago.

"Why exactly are you trying to convince our daughter to become a mistress?" Uh-oh.

"I'm not Honey bunny!" He cooed, trying to soothe his passive-aggressive wife. "I'm just trying to help her out." One glance at the look on Mom's face was enough for him to say, "But, I have absolutely no experience on the situation, therefore everything that I have said or suggested is voided and should not be considered as a valid course of action." He quickly uttered, switching to his business voice.

"That's right." Remind me not to get on my Mom's bad side. "Moon Sugar, just try to befriend her." I nodded, not wanting to take a chance at saying something wrong and scooped a spoonful of rice into my mouth. Yuck.

"You sure missed the chance to see me wear a lovely pair of coveralls."

"What?"

"See, in my plan I was going to infiltrate the school as a janitor, then lure Mio towards Ritsu and lock them in a room together."

"Moonshine, you don't even know what Mio looks like." She humored him, shimmering down from her initial anger when it became apparent that Pops meant no harm.

"Details, details." He grinned. The rest of the dinner continued with elaborate and ridiculous plans of how to get Mio and myself together. One of them included moustaches, a guitar and a trampoline. How exactly could those three things equal romance was beyond me. I scarfed the rest of my dinner down as they continued their nonsensical plotting.

This was just turning out to be a regular night at the Tainaka residence.

"Move, loser!"

A shove and suddenly I felt my body contact with the beige tiled floor below, causing my books to fly everywhere. Oh god, why does the school have to pick the hardest materials ever to spread on the floor? Why couldn't they spread something soft out, like cotton, so that people like me wouldn't have to deal with this pain? I groaned as I looked up. Wrong choice.

"Watch where you're going, fart-knocker!" I glared at the face of the school's biggest prick. At least, I tried to, given my current position on the ground and his position hovering over me. Seriously, how's a girl supposed to look menacing with her face in the dirt? I pushed myself up just in time to see the gleeful smirk on his messed up face. For an idiot who was supposed to graduate last year, he sure was happy to still be in high school.

"_You_'re the one lunchin' everywhere." I snarled, picking up my fallen belongings and what was leftover of my dignity. I could feel a few stares from the back of my head, but for the most part everyone kept walking about. _Bystanders, all of you are bystanders!_

"Psh, whatever." He spoke before roughly stalking away through the crowded hallway, pushing a meek looking kid with round thick black glasses into the lockers in the process. _Dick. _It seemed like Suzuki had decided to pick up his harassment routine from our old school and transfer it into this school by tenfold. I've got to say; it was getting old real quick.

"Hey Ricchan, are you okay?" A concerned soft voice stirred me from my thoughts. I instantly calmed down as I recognize the owner of the voice: the one and only blonde female feline, Mugi.

"Dwag, I'm slammin' ... or should I say cool cat?" I quickly added, remembering whom I was talking to. A small giggle tickled my ears as I finished gathering my things and stood up. "So you saw what happened?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't help. It's just that he sca-"

"Aint no thang but a chicken wing." I interrupted, draping my arm across her shoulders in reassurance. Over the past few weeks Mugi, Yui and I had really become good friends. Although an unusual combination, we were something like the three musketeers… minus the big hats, rapiers and French guard uniforms. Yui, though clumsy, an airhead and had a knack for random outbursts, was really a lovable girl. Her genuine but lazy and fun-loving attitude really meshed well with my crazy, lazy and fun-loving attitude. Yeah, when the two of us are together expect a lot of chaos. This, of course, was balanced out; well I shouldn't say balanced out exactly, more like toned down by Mugi's gentle, motherly and calm nature. I say toned down because most of the time the blonde would join in with our chaos, rather than try to oppose it, and we didn't want to overwhelm her with our stupidity.

"Are you sure? I'll treat you to some cookies to make up for it."

"It's all good, it happens more often than not." At this remark Mugi's face turned sour. Such a nice girl she was and quite attractive too. If it wasn't for her unusual habits and obsession with Japanese cartoons and culture; she would have been quite popular… that and the fact that she wore different sets of cat ears to school everyday. "Really, it's fine. Let's just go find Yui before she decides to eat from the trash or something."

The blonde giggled as we made our way to the open-air cafeteria, or as I liked to call it, the 'watering hole of the animal kingdom'. If the cafe was considered 'the watering hole', then our place in the animal kingdom was the equivalent to the wildebeest or warthogs: feed for the lions. We immediately spotted Yui, sitting by our usual spot at the corner of the courtyard. What I've now come to know as the supposed 'losers' corner. She waved energetically at us, prior to making grand sweeping motions with her arms in an attempt to get us to sit down with her. She looked as though she was conducting airway traffic, which was garnering a bit of attention from our fellow peers.

Mugi and I quickly took our usual seats, Mugi next to Yui and I across from her, before any more attention could be brought on to us. There was a reason we were sitting at the 'losers' table. Mugi had an unusual fascination with the Japanese that people found creepy; Yui was not the brightest bulb in the lot and, well a bit spastic, and me? I wouldn't say that I was socially inept, in fact I was quite good at making friends, it was just the fact that I was on the diss list of a certain someone that put people off. "Sorry we were late. Ricchan got into a little bit of a mishap."

"Was it Atsushi again?"

"How did you know?"

"Ever since Ricchan came here, he'd been giving her a hard time."

"Ah ha ha, yeah that's cause of the dude's sister."

"His sister?"

"I used to teach her music theory back home. She developed a little crush on me, long story short; it did not end well. She told her brother and, next thing you know, I'm public enemy number one." I shrugged. It wasn't the first time my gorgeous looks got me into trouble. Joking.

"Poor Ricchan." Yui patted my shoulder as we got our lunch out. On today's menu, tuna-free tuna casserole, I'm not even going to attempt to convey how I feel about this. I looked over to Mugi's side of the table only to be shocked with awe and longing. She had a black box container, which was separated with different compartments for various types of food. This container is what I could only assume to be a bento, a magnificent stunning bento. Giddy up. I could feel my mouth watering when I saw the vast array of picturesque food; fluffy white rice, fried battered shrimps, rolls of nicely sliced sushi and vibrant green edamame beans. Jealousy thy name is Ritsu Tainaka.

"Mugi..."

"Yes Ricchan?" She picked up a piece of sushi and stuffed it in her mouth. A look of delight gracing her features as she chewed on the piece of raw fish and rice. It made me almost rethink what I was going to ask. Almost.

"I'll trade you?"

"What do you have?" I was thinking she asked this more to be polite than in actual consideration of the deal. No one in his or her right mind would take that beautiful Asian lunch over my not really real food.

"A healthy alternative to tuna casserole." I tried to advertise my meal to sound as appetizing as I could, however it was hard enough to make normal tuna casserole appealing let alone a healthy alternative to it.

"Umm, how about we share?" The blonde took pity on me._ I love you, Mugi. _Turning towards Yui, I was about to offer her some of my delectable 'food' when a sharp trilling sound disrupted the nice lunch atmosphere. Not even bothering to take out her lunch bag, she quickly retrieved a huge bulky orange cellphone from her backpack and stared at what I presumed to be a SMS. I snickered internally. There were three things that I've definitely learned from going to this school:

1. Suzuki is a douchebag.

2. Mio is hot.

3. Yui is in a secret lesbian relationship with a junior on the cheerleading squad.

Just joshing you with the last one, like that would ever happen. As if!

...

Yeah, I'm wellin'. Number three was true. Or at least, I think it was true. Yui never really said anything on the matter, but you know that unexplainable feeling when you know your friend likes someone or is dating someone? It's totally applicable to this situation.

"Who is it?" I asked, already half-knowing the answer.

"Azunyan wants me to meet her in five." The airhead announced, a faint blush gracing her cheeks as she stuffed her phone back into her bag. That was it. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst out with a guffaw and mocking grin while nudging the brunette with my elbow.

"Bow chicka bow wow. You sure can get em'." I winked as her faint blush turned into a full on blush, but she merely brushed my offending joint off and shrugged.

"I gotta go, but I'll catch up with you guys later!" Yui got up and made a hasty dash towards the school building. However, she was only able to get two-thirds of the way there before face-planting on the grass.

"I'm okay!" She yelled back at us as she picked herself up and continued to the school.

"You go girl!" I made one last remark, prior to Mugi and I staring amusedly at each other and commencing to devour our, and by 'our' I mean Mugi's, lunch. After all, it happened quite often. The clumsy Yui, not the booty calls. Actually, scratch that. Both of them happened quite often. Which was surprising considering the fact that Yui was ... not completely here all the time. Though, if there were one thing about this school that I liked, it would have to be Mugi and Yui. Sure, both of them had their quirks but they weren't bad people, unlike the rest of these no good sheep.

"So, Mugi. How did that happen?" I jerked my head towards the door as a short girl with long black pigtails cautiously sneaked her way towards the entrance, where Yui previously disappeared. Her copper eyes shifted everywhere making sure no one was paying attention to her. _So obvious._ Well, if you were paying attention to them that is.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest."

"Oh come on, I'm cool. It's not like I'm shady or anything." I pouted playfully, tilting my head to the side and crossing my arms for an added effect.

"I'm telling the truth. Yui and I have been friends since freshmen year and she only started meeting up with Azusa recently. The only thing she told me about her was that she made a new friend and this was only after her disappearances became noticeable."

"Ya'know they're dating, right?"

"Mmmhmm." And this was where something strange happened. Mugi's eyes glazed over and she took on a very dreamy expression. Somewhat like the one I would make when my Pops would secretly take me out to eat pizza. Meat lover's slice? That stuff's the shit.

"Earth to Mugi, what's the dillio?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just think it's great Yui found someone." She spoke in an airy tone, the dream-like expression still present on her features. However, the enchantment broke as soon as I started to speak.

"Me too. I never thought Yui would go for a girl though, and a cheerleader to boot. Damn Skippy. She nice at least?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Huh?"

"I've never actually met her."

"You mean Yui never introduced you guys?" At this point, I was baffled. If I was dating someone I would've told my friends, so then, we could gush about them, have double dates and whatnot.

"We don't exactly run in the same circles."

"Oh, I gotcha'." I nodded as if I understood all along. "She's a cheerleader so she's popular and well, we're not, so she probably doesn't want to be seen with us. Got it." I propped my chin up with my palm as my elbow planted itself on the table. Man, high school really sucked sometimes.

"I'm sure it's not like that, Ricchan. They probably both have good reasons for keeping their relationship a secret."

"Ah, tis truly a teenage high school Romeo and Juliet story then. Yui Montague and Azusa Capulet forever shunned by their cliques. Star-crossed lovers indeed." I joshed, earning me a laugh and a light slap on the arm.

"Oh my dear, how you wound me!" I closed my eyes and placed the back of my hand dramatically across my forehead as my other hand grabbed the area in front of my heart. "I have been overcome by pain and sorrow."

"My my, we don't have to call the Nurse now, do we?"

"I have no use for the Nurse when a friend like Mugitio can suffice!" I peeked at the blonde, slightly opening one of my closed eyelids, to find her with an amused smile. A light chuckle later and I knew my act was up.

"Have you ever thought about joining the drama club?"

"Nah, it's not my thing. I'm more into music."

"Then, how bout you join the band?" As tempting as the proposal was, let's all face it; band had an unfortunate stigma associated with it. Unless you're required to take it, one would generally avoid voluntarily signing up for the extracurricular.

"And be signed for a year of whirlies and noogies? No, thank you."

"Oh, I thought it would be fun if all three of us was in a club together..." She mumbled as she lowered her gaze, pouting slightly while nibbling on an edamame bean. _Damn it._

"It's not like there's anything wrong with being in the band." I tried to save myself. _Gotta' learn to keep my mouth shut sometimes_. "But, it's just not my thing."

"They have a drum set in the music room." She tried to persuade me. "And it's a really good set."

"What set is it?"

"Tama Starclassic." I gaped as I felt my jaw slacken. That really was a good drum set; it almost beat my Yamaha Hipgig. And that was saying something since my Pops bought me the set, as a Christmas present way back when, and it still sounded dank.

"I'm not sure." Was it really worth it? Throwing away what little reputation I had for a really sweet set of drums?

"If you join, the music room is free to the members at anytime."

"I dunno..."

"How about you come by afterschool and look around? You don't have to join."

"I'll think about it." I picked up a piece of shrimp with my fingers and wiggled it above my mouth, before ingesting it whole. It wasn't a bad offer, but I was still hesitant. I needed street cred to try and make it in this dawg eat dawg world and joining the band was definitely not a good way to gain it.

"Who else is in the ban-" A few rowdy and obnoxious voices cut my sentence short.

"Throw out your junk and let's go already!"

"Shut up will ya!" Both Mugi and I grimaced as we noticed a group of football players approaching our table. _The lions are out to hunt._

"Losers!"

A balled up chip bag was thrown at my head as I controlled my urge to jack up their bunk faces. _Remember what Mom said, when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace… what the hell does that mean anyways?_ I growled as they left, their loud laughter soon fading away in the real world. But, still rang loud and clear in my ears. Who needs street cred when all it does is turn you into a jackass?

Screw it; I'm joining the band.

* * *

**AN:** Yeah, so um... I was supposed to upload this on the 14th but something came up and I couldn't get the chance to revise it and upload it until now. This chapter's kinda dull compared to the last one but I guess that just means plot build up? Lol. I dunno. Excuse any mistakes in there since it's pretty late now (or should I say early since it's morning now hehe) and I wanted to upload this before I got too busy or forget. I'll probably look over it and fix it some more sometime later on. I rewrote this chapter three times already and I'm still not happy. Meh. I know said I got chapter 3 done and I do, but I want to hold off uploading it since I want to make it better, add some more stuff and revise it. Um, I don't know when I can do that though since things with school are starting to pick up (Midterms, yay...) I'll try though.

In the fic, the school has a Tama Starclassic. I'm not a drummer so I don't know if it's actually better than Ritsu's Yamaha, but the interwebs did say it's a good set.

In regards to the AN I posted before... Yeah, let's just not go there. It was just a big mess and, oy vey, never again. But if there are any mistakes or incorrect information feel free to tell me.

Edit: I went over it so now there should be less grammar and spelling errors.


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